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same thing has been mentioned incidentally in the catalogues of 
Isaac Hicks & Son, nurserymen of Westbury, L. I., and in ‘ Long 
Island Illustrated,” an attractive booklet issued annually by the 
Long Island Railroad. 
For a generation or more the Hempstead Plains have been 
known to a few botanists as a good collecting ground, and every 
one who has traveled by rail from New York to Cold Spring 
Harbor, since the establishment of the Brooklyn Institute’s 
biological laboratories at the latter place, has passed through 
several miles of what was once prairie, and seen a little which is 
Fic. т. Prairie scene about 3 miles south of Hicksville, Quercus prinoides in fore- 
ground, Quercus minor at left, Betula populifolia near center. August 25, 1909- 
still in its natural condition; but to this day the real nature of 
the area in question has apparently never been mentioned in 
botanical literature. Previous to the summer of 1907 I had 
been along the edges of the area, as defined by Bonsteel, in 
several places, and penetrated into it for short distances, without 
seeing any natural vegetation, so I supposed that the prairie 
was all occupied by villages, private estates, farms, etc., and that 
it was consequently no longer possible to verify the published 
statements about its original vegetation. But one day in July 
of that year I happened to cross the center of the area on foot, 
and was surprised to find that there are still thousands of acres 
